Class #6 pt. 2 "Occupy Wall Street Readings"

a. Occupy Wall Street History

1. Wikipedia- ongoing demonstrations started by Adbusters protesting social and economic inequality, corporate greed, and influence of corporations.

2. Mashable- OWS inspired by Arab Spring movement. Goal is to maintain sustained occupation of Wall Street in order to draw attention to economic structure and Wall Street misdeeds.

3. Protests grow- Support for OWS exploded after September 17. Unions joined, Anonymous shut down NYSE.com, We Are the 99 Percent blog started.

b. 928 Offshoots on Meetup.com

1. Overnight- Movement grows to include 200 cities across the U.S. Meetup.com helps people involved in OWS connect and start related events nationwide. Meetup is designed for grass-roots organizing.

c. Occupy Wall Street Hackathons

1. Mashable- Groups build digital tools for OWS movement. Some ideas help OWS articulate its goals, make decisions and cast votes.

2. Another Mashable- Hackathons for OWS have started independently in several U.S. cities.

3. Occupy Together- a website hosted through Meetup unites computer whizzes who want to help the movement spread through new online tools.

4. FreedomBox- a new project helps people develop personal servers for increased privacy, described on Wikipedia.

d. Twitter Buzz Builds for OWS

1. Social Media Buzz Builds- A study of Twitter shows that online buzz around OWS reached a peak on October 6. Greatest single day of boost to the movement occurred when hundreds were arrested on Brooklyn Bridge.

2. Twitter- Collects all posts on Twitter tagged with #OccupyWallStreet. This list grows every second.

3. Call to action by Adbusters- "Tahrir succeeded in large part because the people of Egypt made a straightforward ultimatum – that Mubarak must go – over and over again until they won. Following this model, what is our equally uncomplicated demand? ...We demand that Barack Obama ordain a Presidential Commission tasked with ending the influence money has over our representatives in Washington." I think if OWS protestors articulated this founding demand then there would be fewer people in politics asking what OWS really wants....

e. NYPD arrests in WSP

1. The video - Protestors in WSP are given the opportunity to leave peacefully. They refuse, sing songs, and taunt officers and are arrested. I support the movement but I think this was unnecessary.

f. OWS gaining momentum in social media

1. Nmincite- The original study conducted by NM Incite which points at October 6 as peak for OWS interest.

2. Occupy Together- An informal home based for OWS worldwide, providing resources and news for protestors.

3. Mashable- Photos and video of the Brooklyn Bridge arrests that brought interest in the movement to a high point.

4. Reuters- Reporter covers OWS events around the world in what looks like a live-stream format, including short information bursts and photos.

g. Birds-Eye View

1. Maps- shows the reach of the "Occupy" movement using map, which relies on social media data for conclusions about hotspots.

2. Another map- map hosted on Cravify shows OWS activity worldwide.

3. The Guardian- Adds to the maps of OWS online. They say the listings they've created are drawn from all "verified news reports" of activity.

h. Does 1st amendment grant absolute right to protest?

1. Boing Boing- Link to Pro Publica article on state restriction of protest.

2. Pro Publica- 1st amendment is not absolute. Time, place, and manner restrictions apply when it comes to public spaces. This goes for any protest, regardless of content. The rules are different with a private space such as Zucotti Park. Private owners can ask police to evict demonstrators. Some readers say the Park is in a legal grey area because it is a privately owned public space, which makes no sense to me.

i. Occupy Wall Street Newspaper

1. Mashable- Article about The Occupied Wall Street Journal, newspaper about and for OWS community. Funded by online donors.

j. George and Luke

1. Occupy George- Website with tips on how to apply graphics to American currency that spreads message of OWS. Looks like data visualization gone viral!

1. Luke- funny web graphic depicts Star Wars' Luke Skywalker as member of OWS 99% because he was raised poor and joined a rebel group.

k. Protest Posters

1. Boing Boing 1 and 2- studio portraits of protestors puts human face to OWS.

l. OWS Propoganda

1. Boing Boing- Atlantic columnist's words end up on a OWS poster.

2. Boing Boing Octopus- Clever OWS play on words to describe old cartoon about the FED.

3. Pittsburgh- Photos of OWS in Pittsburgh focuses on signage.

m. Role of Anonymous

1. Fast Company- argues that Anonymous serves to promote and publicize the OWS movement.

2. Boing Boing- Link to government press release that calls Anonymous a domestic terrorism organization.

3. Wired- article describes how Anonymous has expressed it wants to take down American infrastructure. DHS thinks it's unlikely that the group has the capacity but is issuing the release anyway.

4. Public Intelligence- Link to PDF of the DHS bulletin, which highlights past actions of Anonymous, which are of concern.

n. Ice cream

1. Ben & Jerry's- gets behind OWS. We all scream for ice cream.